History and Traditions
History
of Leavening - Learn about leavening and make baking powder biscuits
When you look at a slice of bread or cake, notice
the little air pockets inside. These pockets of air help make these
foods light and easy to chew. The air pockets are a result of leavening,
which is a practice of introducing air into the batter or dough
so that the finished product is greater in volume.The word leaven
comes from the latin word "levare", meaning "to raise".
There are several different ways to make a leavened baked good.
You can use yeast, baking soda, baking powder, stiffly beaten egg
whites, or a combination of several of these.
Some time ago, breads could only be leavened with
fermented yeast. This meant that the mixed dough had to sit and
rise for a while, so that tiny air bubbles would form, making the
dough light and airy. Once the bubbles were formed in the dough,
the bread could be baked. In the oven the bubbles expanded and the
bread “rose”. The ancient 
Egyptians
used this kind of leavening to make their breads.
Many cultures made flat breads like the tortilla,
which is still a popular bread today. Some flat breads were not
leavened at all, but were rolled very thin so that they would cook
all the way through and be tender enough to eat. Native American
Indians made a flat bread with corn meal, and used a very early
type of leavening made from wood ashes. The early colonists used
a similar method.
See recipe for Indian Flat Bread
Although
yeast was and still is a good leavner, it requires a little time
to let dough rise for good leavening. In the late 1700's and early
1800's people started experimenting with different ingredients,
and found several home made mixtures they could use to help their
baked goods raise quickly. They found that they could mix sour milk
(clabber) with other ingredients to make bubbles in their
batter or dough. They would also mix pearlash (potash)
with sour milk (clabbered milk) to get the same effect. Because
of this new kind of leavening from a chemical reaction, the dough
did not need to sit for a long time before it was baked. It could
go from bowl to oven in no time. These types of baked goods are
now known as “quick breads”.
In the mid 1800’s it was discovered that cakes
and biscuits (quick breads) could be made with a mixture of cream
of tartar (acid ingredient) and baking soda (alkaline). Cream of
tartar is a by-product resulting from the manufacture of grape wine.
In 1854, baking powder was invented, using acid phosphate
instead of cream of tartar. The leavening reaction between the phosphate
and baking powder was controlled, resulting in a dependable leavening
action. Foods came out light, flakey and tasty, without any bitterness
from pearlash and without setting milk out for days to "clabber",
or sour enough to work in a recipe.
Today baking powders have been refined so
that there is a "double" action - some of the leavening
is released when moisture is added, and then again when the temperature
gets over 140 degrees F. This results in a dependable leavened baked
good that is light, airy and tender.
Activities: Read
the information above in order to understand the following activities
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